Human Resourse: supply, demand, taxes and labor laws

I have had the pleasure of talking with perhaps hundreds of drivers coast to coast. Sometimes it affords me information about certain geographical areas that experience certain trends where other areas do not.

As a small example (if you please). I spoke with a recruiter a little over two years ago (pre Oil boom of Alberta) and they informed me that the rate of pay for their lease/owner operators based in the West was four cents per mile MORE than the rates for Ontario based operators. It confused me slightly because at the time it tended to be more expensive to live in Ontario than in the West. The reason was… supply and demand! There were more operators available in Ontario than there was in the West, therefore they didn’t need to pay as much.

This supply and demand example reflects more than just “rate of pay”. Another more drastic example I have heard and seen out of Ontario is the tendency for trucking companies only to hire/contract drivers who own their own corporations. It’s a “driver services company/corporation”. A single driver wanting to work for a company is pressured into incorporating, and the corporation would be paid by the mile. The benefits to the trucking company are numerous: no labor board hassles, payroll taxes, short or even long term obligations, damage claims… on and on. This tendency allows some trucking companies to do an end run around numerous labor restrictions while legitimate companies are forced to operate legally. It’s a corner cutting that MUST stop.

Of course when everyone is looking for work, desperate people end up doing desperate things. Giving up employee rights should not be tolerated. It’s not good, but it probably won’t stop until demand picks up above supply.

In tough economic times scoundrels run rampant. Watch yourself.